Most of the efforts and experiments I see in self-measurement, quantified self, body hacking or whatever you choose to call it, tend to be focused on physical health and fitness. Fitbit and Jawbone are the obvious hardware embodiments of these endeavours.

Clearly there is value in this, yet I see relatively few experiments in the measurement and improvement of psychological health. The mental Yin to the physical Yang.

I have long had an (until now unpublished) interest in using self-measurement and biofeedback to increase focus and reduce stress in a business environment.

The goal of my experimentation is to keep the business success, even improve on it through increased focus and at the same time reduce the negative effects of stress when delivering these results.

I have been using the HeartMath Inner Balance device that connects to my iPhone and measures Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Low levels of HRV indicate stress and higher levels relaxation. There are plenty of articles that provide more detail however I like this recent one, that both explains HRV and highlights its potential value from a business perspective.

There is a lot of work going on in this area but most of it (including the above article) centres on dedicating a specific time during the day to improve your HRV score…

..In my experimentation I had another idea as outlined in the video below….